Soldiers from a Burmese army battalion approached within 10 miles of the largest Mon political party’s central head quarters, warning only that they would be seeking ‘bandits’ in the territory.
On January 10th, soldiers from the Burmese army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282, appeared in Suwanabumi village, at the Bee Ree river area, in territory administered by the New Mon State Party (NMSP).
“They [soldiers from Infantry LIB No. 282] arrived about 11 AM and left the way they came after staying about 3 hours in the village,” according to a villager from Suwanabumi village. “They came with about 25 soldiers in full uniform and with complete army kits.”
When the unit arrived, they were told the headman was not in the village. The soldiers then patrolled the interior of the village for 3 hrs, after which they left. Villagers said that the solders told them that the force had arrived in pursuit of bandits. However village residents reported to IMNA they never saw or encounter bandits entering or passing though their village.
The incursion of SPDC soldiers so far into NMSP territory is unusual as it violates conditions set in 1995 agreement ceasing hostilities between the NMSP and SPDC. In June 1995 the SPDC reached a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that approximated a ceasefire, reaching 13 key agreements with the Burmese army SPDC.
The agreement confined NMSP control to a triangular collection of 12 permanent ceasefire locations. In the ceasefire, the SPDC agreed to keep its forces out of these 12 locations.
According to a Suwanabumi resident, soldiers from LIB No. 282 reached the village by a footpath, the only means of accessing the area. The direction from which LIB No. 282’s soldiers came into NMSP territory was from Tavoy District, Tenasserim Division. According to villagers, the village is only a 3 hr walk from NMSP central headquarters.
This is not the first time such an incursion has occurred. On October 8th, a contingent of SPDC officers and 30 soldiers entered NMSP territory from the direction of Ye Township, Mon State.
“… They came was in October 2006, [saying that they came] to know the [land in the] border area,” explained a political leader to IMNA. “At that time they [Burmese government] continued to refuse to address what the NMSP [and other ceasefire groups] had presented at the National Convention. After they [Burmese government] didn’t acknowledge this, and the NMSP resigned from the National Convention [meetings]. After that they [Burmese government] put pressure on the NMSP to consider and accept [the governments agenda] at the National Convention...”
In June 2004, a contingent of 13 ceasefire groups assembled an outline of demands to present to the national convention, the first step in the Burmese government’s 7 roadmap to a ‘disciplined democracy’. The proposal was intended to give significant legislative and administrative powers to state governments and guarantee the existence of ethnically controlled security forces.
After the proposal was rejected the NMSP withdrew its delegates in 2006 and sent only observers to final meeting in 2007.
In this recent incident, according to a source close to NMSP administration, the party only received minimal advanced warning of the arrival of the SPDC forces. “They informed the [NMSP headquarters] of their coming, but did not say when they would arrive. But they did say they were coming to follow bandits.” It is unclear how far in advance the NMSP administration was warned of the soldiers’ arrival.
A political observer based along the Thai/Burma border commented on the strangeness of the Burmese army’s justification for entering into NMSP territory, having come on a 2-day march all the way from the Tavoy area to the village.
“They are putting pressure on the NMSP [in different] ways due to their not participating in the coming 2010 election, and the NMSP’s refusal to accept to BGF or people militia demands. That’s why they gave the reason of following bandits, and entered secretly into NMSP territory”.
